


Not the same as a stray cat

by orphan_account



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe: no powers, Established Relationship, Gen, No Smut, Original Characters - Freeform, Runaway, Steve Rogers is an empathetic little shit, Stucky - Freeform, Theres a happy ending i swear, also they have real jobs, but it's not the main focus, everything was beautiful and nothing hurt, in the form of a backstory, mentioned abusive relationship, the flawed american foster care system, tw: mentioned drug use, went to college and everything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-05 17:20:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11582670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Steve was turning around towards the coffee shop a couple stores back.“Steve, what are you doing?”“She’s out in the cold, Buck, I'm just gonna get her something warm.”Bucky narrowed his eyes. “Just coffee?”“Just coffee.” He promised.Bucky didn’t believe him, but didn’t stop him either.Steve and Bucky let the runaway they meet stay with them to get out of this storm. It's no big deal. Besides, it's just for one night, right?





	1. Hospitality

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my first work on ao3 but I've been working on it for a while. Feel free to leave any tips/ suggestions on how I could make this better! Unbeta'd but edited. There will be several chapters.

Steve laughed loudly at his own joke, for which Bucky shoved him halfheartedly. They were run- walking to their apartment with their hoods pulled over their heads, blocking out the pouring rain. They walked past the warm lighting of a diner, past an old laundromat that had been closed years ago, past alleyways and dumpsters and everything of the sort. Bucky thought of nothing but home and how warm it would feel, not that he wasn’t having at least a _little_ fun running through the rain with Steve. His right hand was freezing from being out of his pocket to hold Steve’s, but he didn’t mind.  
Steve slowed to a stop in front of an alleyway and furrowed his brows.  
“What's wrong?” Bucky worried.  
“Look at her, does she even have a jacket?” Steve whispered.  
Bucky looked to the small, shivering lump in the alleyway that Bucky only registered as a young girl once his eyes adjusted.  
Bucky shrugged, “Doesn’t look like it,”  
“How old do you think she is?” He whispered  
Bucky tried to size her up but she wasn’t quite that visible. “I dunno, man. Twenty?” Bucky guessed, a twinge of pity in his stomach. If she could hear them, she didn’t show it.  
Without commenting further, Steve was turning around towards the coffee shop a couple stores back.    
“Steve, what are you doing?”  
“She’s out in the cold, Buck, I'm just gonna get her something warm.”  
Bucky narrowed his eyes. “Just coffee?”  
“Just coffee.” He promised.  
Bucky didn’t believe him, but didn’t stop him either.

Steve ordered himself some ridiculous latte, and some tea thing for the girl. Bucky didn’t want anything, didn’t need anything else keeping him up. Ten minutes later, they were stepping back into the rain. Steve hesitated when he looked back down the alley, pondering how to make his approach the least intimidating it could be. He worried his stature would be a bit much for a young girl on the street. She shivered violently and curled into her wet form, so he told himself to cut the shit and stepped forward.  
He cleared his throat before calling out an innocent, “Excuse me?”    
She jumped, startled, and looked up at them. Bucky thought he saw her shrink away, but it was dark.  
“I’m- uh, Steve, that’s Bucky. You just- we were walking by and it’s pretty nasty out and you look a little cold,” He was trying to segue into his point in such a way where she stopped looking like such a deer in headlights.  
“Anyway, I grabbed some tea from that place next door, if you wanted it. I haven’t touched it, the lid’s still on and everything,” He assured, trying to take what was probably an automatic concern of hers into mind.  
She kept looking at him, but her brows furrowed. She pursed her lips.  
Nodded.  
Steve squatted down to her level to hand it to her. She wrapped her shaking hands around it desperately and sipped even though Steve was sure it was too hot. She clutched it to her as if it and its warmth would be taken away.

She opened her mouth but all that came out was a croaking noise. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Uh- thank you,” Her voice was rough from disuse.  
“What’s your name? What’re you doing out here? ”  
She shrugged. Bucky saw a glint in her eye that suggested that not all of the water on her face was just from the rain. Steve continued to try and chat, asked how old she was and where she came from. She didn’t answer any questions about herself.  
The ones she did answer were ones like, “You headed somewhere?”  
    “Uh- no..”  
Steve sighed and asked gently, “Do you have anywhere to stay tonight?”  
Bucky knew it. He didn’t mind though.  
She pursed her lips before nodding hesitantly.  
“You lyin’ to me?” Bucky could almost hear him raising his eyebrows.

She’d started crying hard enough that it was noticeable. She was noticeably trying not to, and it broke their hearts. She wasn’t sobbing, but tears flowed from her eyes steadily. Bucky was speculant about what he had just asked her. They didn’t know her.  Steve took his raincoat off leaving him in a hoodie that immediately started to get soaked. He offered it to her. She looked back up to him with doe eyes.  
“You- I don't know..” Her voice shook.  
“It’s cold and rainy. That’s no place for anyone to be out here for the night. I’m cold so I can't imagine how you feel,” She punctuated that with an involuntary shiver, “So, if you like, I’ve got a spare bedroom for the night. Really.” He offered gently, still holding his jacket out.  
Bucky could see the wheels turning in her head. She looked from Steve to Bucky, and back again. Finally, in lieu of responding, she took the jacket hesitantly.  
Steve sighed in relief and looked sheepishly at Bucky. Bucky shook his head big gave Steve a small smile. _What am I gonna do with you?_

She took a shaky sip of her tea and stood. Swaying on her feet, she gripped the wall until her head rush went away. Steve rushed forward -without touching her- and asked if she was okay, but she just nodded, “That happens sometimes,”  
Steve tried lo look understanding but his heart just sank. Words flashed through his head. Orthostatic? Iron deficient? Dehydrated?  
She looked between them, “You’re sure?”  
“Absolutely.” Steve said.  
Almost unable to let herself get her hopes up, she looked to Bucky. Her eyes were open and scared.  
“Yeah, of course. C’mon.” Bucky encouraged.  
She stepped away from the wall and nodded at Steve. Setting down her cup, she put her arms through the sleeves of Steve’s jacket. It swam on her but it was warm and dry enough. She picked her tea back up and Steve grabbed Bucky’s hand and squeezed it. Bucky squeezed back.

Bucky could hear her breathing when they walked. Unconsciously counting her breaths, he realized it was the same breathing exercise he did when he needed to stay calm and think straight. He counted. Four seconds in, eight seconds out. Four in, eight out. He started thinking that if she needed, he’d teach her the other coping skills he knew. It’s hard to have a panic attack when you’re focusing on counting down from one hundred by sevens.  
Hold that thought. You don’t even know her name.

The walk back was less than three blocks, but Steve kept asking her if she could make it anyway. She kept insisting I’m fine, really. You don’t have to. In his defense, neither of them knew when the last time she had a proper meal was. Steve didn’t seem to mind the fact that she seemed stiff and on guard. He kept his tone warm and encouraging.  
As they were walking, Bucky got a better look at her. She was rather short- especially compared to them- with her hair in a grown out, messy pixie cut that might’ve been neat at one time but now just spiked in weird directions from being wet. She kept running her hand through the front to get it out of her face.  
She was also thin and frail enough to make Bucky’s heart sink. When they passed streetlights, he could see dark blue shadows under her eyes and that her skin had no color.

When they got inside, she ran her hand through her hair again and looked around. The apartment complex was nothing special, but it also wasn’t a hole in the wall. By the time they reached the elevator, she still hadn’t talked, so it was almost jarring when she broke the silence to ask, "How old are you?"

Steve answered, "Twenty- nine. Bucky's a year older," 

"Okay," She mumbled

“You got a name?” Bucky tried.

“Yeah,”

Bucky snorted a little bit didn’t press it. The girl kept her eyes on the floor at her ratty, soaked converse.  
The elevator stopped at their floor and they stepped out. Steve went to change into dry clothes, his wet since the girl still had his raincoat on. It was damp, but it was better than but the rest of her clothes looked heavy and dripped onto the floor.  
Her and Bucky stood in not quite awkward silence, and whenever Bucky glanced at her she was staring at her shoes and shivering. "You don't talk much, do you?" Bucky said. She shrugged and he snorted.  Steve walked back out of the room, and spoke up.

“Hey, sorry. Can I get you something dry to wear? You could take a shower if you want.”

"Are you sure?" she asked.

In unison, Steve said, “Absolutely,” and Bucky said, “One condition,”  
The girl stiffened and Steve looked to Bucky, confused.

“Name?” Bucky finished.

She pursed her lips, breathed out a laugh. “Parker."

“Parker,” He tried it out. “Okay, bathroom’s down that hall, first door on the right. Leave your wet stuff in there, we’ll get it. Use anything in there, I think there’s even a toothbrush we haven’t opened in one of the drawers.  And I’ll leave some clothes outside the door.”

She mumbled her thanks and made her way into the bathroom.

\----  
Parker stepped into the bathroom, leaned against the back of the door, and took several long and deep breaths.  
_What am I getting myself into?_  
She didn’t know these people. Sure, maybe she’d gotten the god's- honest truth, but maybe she hadn’t and they’re waiting for her to trust them.  
She told herself, one thing at a time, because either way, a shower sounded abso-fucking-lutely amazing right about now.  
Her clothes fought with her coming off, sweatshirt soaked and heavy, and leggings sticking uncomfortably to her legs. Everything was wet and still dripping. When she was naked, she wrung them out over the bathtub and hung them over an empty towel rack.  
Okay, now what?  
Shower. That’s next. She turned the water on and tried to remember the last time she took a real, hot shower. It’d been a while.  
She held her hand under it and waited for it to get warm. It warmed up, but she’d overestimated how far to turn it so it started quickly steaming and she yanked her hand away. Turned it back down.  
_Too cold. Fucking hell._  
She fussed with it until it was comfortable and she stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain closed.  
The hot water burned her freezing skin and she went numb for a few moments. She stood and shivered violently for a few minutes while she warmed up. Her massive goosebumps started to recede and she checked her hands and feet, wiggled them. Ten fingers and ten toes. She knew a little bit about hypothermia, but nothing was numb so she figured she was fine. When she stopped shivering and trembling, she dipped her head back into the water.  
It felt so good. She couldn't remember the last time she wasn’t cold.  
Oh my god. It was so nice.  
Looking around, there was a bottle of something that was shampoo and conditioner in one bottle. It was nothing fancy and it smelled clean, so she could not have cared less.  
Getting a glob of it into her hand, it barely lathered up because her hair was so dirty. She massaged it through her hair and thought dimly that it was very, very overgrown. The top was constantly in her face and her sides, once completely buzz cut, curled against her neck uncomfortably.  
She rinsed her hair out and washed it again. It was a little cleaner. She thought dimly that she was going to use all of their soap, but the long haired one - was it Bucky? That had to be a nickname- had said to use whatever, and clean hair sounded like a luxury.  
One more glob of shampoo and her hair finally didn’t feel oily. It was smooth and clean when she touched it and Parker marveled at that one sensation for a few seconds before grabbing the bar of soap.  
She rubbed it in her hands to get it to suds up and washed down her arms and chest, stomach and legs. Rinsed off, did it again.  
There were no more traces of dirt and grime covering her, and she actually smelled pleasant. She barely registered anymore that her legs and underarms weren’t smooth as she had once kept them. Who gives a shit?  
She got a small bit more bar soap on her hands and scrubbed at the dirt around and under her fingernails. There.  
Reluctantly, she turned the water off. She didn’t have a way to know the time, but she guessed she’d taken no less than a half hour. With the water off, she could hear voices distantly in the other room.

“Should we make food?” That sounded like the first one- Steve?  
“I mean, I know I’m hungry, so either way yes.” That one was Bucky  
“You’re always hungry. What do you want?” Steve laughed.  
“Do we have the shit for that- that ravioli thing but it's in a pan.  That thing. You know what I’m talking about?”  
Someone- probably Steve- snorted. “It’s a ravioli bake, and yes we do. Come help me,”  
“I hope you know I will still forget what it’s called.” Bucky replied. “I’ll do the garlic bread stuff,”  
“Sounds good.”  
Food, my god.  
One thing at a time.  
She ran her hands through her hair to get excess water out and grabbed a towel. She dried herself off slowly, still standing in the shower with the curtain open only because she was loathe to make a mess for them.  
Okay, clothes. Bucky had said he’d put some just outside the door. She knew that if anything was going to go wrong, it’d be right around now when she opened the door wrapped in only a towel. She considered just putting her old clothes back on, but they were so wet and cold and she probably wouldn’t have been able to pull soaked leggings on.    
_Okay, I’ll just look. Really quietly._  
There was rattling in the kitchen, and they couldn’t be in two places at once.  
_Unless there’s more of them_ , she thought. _No. Stop that. They’ve been nothing but kind to you_.  
She opened the door a crack and braced herself, but nothing happened. She opened it further and looked down the hall on both sides. Nothing moved. Looking down, there was a pile of clothes right where the second one, (she tried to get herself to start using their names) said there would be.  
_Bucky’s gotta be a nickname. What could that be short for?_  
She picked it up and stepped back into the bathroom. Unfolding the clothes, there was a huge t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. The pants had a drawstring that if she pulled tight enough might make the pants stay up.  
Her heart steadied and something swelled in her chest. They really were being very kind.  
She got dressed and marveled at herself in the mirror. Her hair was shiny and not in greasy mats, her skin wasn’t covered in dirt. She smelled good. She was wearing clean clothes.  
Wow.  
The clothes swam on her, but she tied the sweatpants and they stayed on. There was nothing to be done about the shirt going down to her thighs, but she didn’t particularly care. She was also too short for the pants, so she cuffed them up at the bottom a few times.  
Okay, what now?  
Looking into the mirror, Parker moved her hair around with her hands until it looked somewhat okay, much better than before, anyway. She stared at her own eyes in the mirror.  
_How did this happen?_  
She thought she ought to go back out there, and she could smell the food they were making, so she clung to hope they would let her have some.  
Shyly stepping into the hallway, she could see Steve in the kitchen, but not Bucky. She tried not to wonder where he was, since she could barely see into the kitchen.  
As she approached, Steve turned around and saw her. He smiled softly.  
“Hey,” Steve said, “I know it’s getting late, but we haven’t eaten yet so we were working on dinner. You hungry?” He already knew the answer to that question. Her stomach ached with emptiness and the smell of food was only making it worse. She tried to suppress the excited smile that threatened to show on her lips.  
“Uh- yeah, a little,” She admitted.  
He smiled. “I figured.”  
“Um- what time is it anyway?”  
Steve checked the clock on the stove. “Eight forty- five,”  
There was a counter next to Steve that she saw if she was turned a corner would become a sort of bar. She only knew that because there sat Bucky, watching Steve from a barstool.  
She nodded. “So, um.. Thanks, guys. I don't- really know what to say, besides thanks,” She looked down at her hands.  
“Listen, it’s no trouble. Really. I don’t mind one bit.” Steve said.  
“Still- thanks,” She mumbled.  
“Wanna sit down?” Bucky asked, gesturing to a seat next to him. “It'll be ready in a few minutes,”  
Wordlessly, she nervously worked her way to where Bucky sat. There were three stools, and he sat on the far left. She went to the far right one, leaving one space between them.  
“How are you feeling?”  
She looked down at her hands where she was fidgeting with the seam of her shirt. “I’m okay. Thanks,” she said shyly.  
Bucky smiled.  
He walked to the fridge and got a water bottle out. He wordlessly offered Parker one, to which she grinned and nodded.  
She drank thirstily and the bottle crackled as she downed at least a quarter of it.  
    “If you’re that thirsty you can ask for water, y’know,” Bucky said.  
Steve pulled a piece of the garlic bread out of the skillet and put it in a bowl with all the others he’d made. He pulled a dish out of the oven about thirty seconds before a timer went off to tell them it was done. He was moving casually through the kitchen as if they weren’t showing Parker the most kindness she could ever remember experiencing.  
\----  
“Help yourself. There’s plenty here,” Steve said before scooping a mountain of pasta on his plate and two pieces of garlic bread.  
She looked at Bucky, still feeling like she needed permission from them both. He nodded and said quietly, “Eat, hon. Don’t be shy,”  
She nodded and grabbed her plate, scooping pasta onto it and a piece of bread. Steve had made his way to the couch and Bucky was next to him. She wasn’t sure where to go. There was an empty recliner and she figured it was weird not to eat with them.  
She sat down on the chair with her legs crossed and ate ravenously. She knew she was shoveling food into her mouth but didn’t care. It was hot and damn good.  
Around when she almost done and her hunger stopped aching, she looked up to Steve staring at her. She realized she’d scarfed her food down and barely stopped to breathe the whole time. She also didn’t miss Bucky elbowing him and giving him a look.  
“...Sorry,” She said but with more sheepishness than actual embarrassment.  
“No, no, you’re not doing anything wrong. There’s more in there if you want it,” Steve encouraged.  
“Thank you,” She said genuinely. Steve smiled at her. Bucky’s smile was more knowing. He winked.  
-  
When they’d all eaten their fill, they sat back in the living room watching TV, Steve and Bucky together on the couch and Parker in the armchair. They were holding hands, she noticed, and her lips turned up at the corners a bit. Breaking eye contact with the TV and gripping Bucky’s hand nervously, Steve spoke up.  
“Can I ask you something?” He asked her, eyes innocent and wide.  
She tried not to sound anxious when she said, “Knock yourself out,”  
“How old are you?”  
She considered. “What’s the date?”  
“Um, April fifteenth?” He looked to Bucky, who nodded.  
In a small voice, “I’ll be nineteen in a couple months,”  
“You’re eighteen?” Steve was incredulous.  
She gave him an innocent, closed mouth smile. Shrugged.  
“So do you drive? How’d you get here? Born in the city?” Bucky asked.  
“Um- no I lived in a subdivision not too far away. There was a train station about a mile away from where I lived. My- my friend and I were gonna move here to live with a friend of hers." “What happened to that?” Steve asked. He was still stunned. Eighteen. A runaway. Jesus.  
“Didn’t work out.” She said quietly. Steve wondered how much she’d let him pull out of her.  
“You ran away- from your parents house?”  
“A foster home. Not nearly as glamorous” There wasn’t emotion in her voice. Bucky wasn’t talking, just taking information in with wide eyes.  
“They didn’t file a missing persons?”  
She snorted. Like it was a joke. Steve’s heart ached.  
“Me and my, uh, friend, we both turned eighteen, so we were aged out. No longer the state’s responsibility. They were supposed to keep us until we were independent, but we just got train tickets and left. We’d had part- time jobs so we had saved some money.” She said.  
“Why did you want to run away?” He pressed.  
She looked at him and then down at her hands where she was anxiously picking at her nails. When she saw he was waiting for an answer, she shrugged. Steve sighed.  
“That’s okay. Are you tired? It’s a little after 10,” Bucky supplied.  
“I- a little,” She admitted.  
“Figured. C’mere,” He stood up. “Guest room’s right over here,” Bucky said. Steve stood too.  
“Oh, you don't have to let me-”  
“Nonsense.” Steve interrupted. “Nobody’s ever in there anyway. It’d just stay empty if not.”  
She nodded, stood to follow them. When she was on her feet, she braced herself against the arm of the couch while her vision went white and her ears rung. She breathed slowly until she could see again.  
“Okay?” Steve worried.  
“Yeah, ‘s no big deal,” She said. She knew it probably wasn’t healthy, but it didn’t matter.  They led her down the hall to a bedroom not ten feet from the bathroom.  
They stood in the room but she sat on the bed. “Can I ask something now?”  
“Sure,” Steve smiled, relieved that she didn't seem traumatized from his interrogation.  
“Are you guys together?”  
Both Steve and Bucky laughed, huge and loud. She ended up giggling just from the hilarity. Finally, Bucky said, “Yes, yes we are together. I’m sorry,” he apologized for laughing.  
She snorted. “It’s okay.”  
“I kinda figured, but, y’know,” She shrugged.  
“Anything else?” Bucky asked with a small chuckle.  
She was embarrassed, but she asked anyway, “What’s ‘Bucky’ a nickname for?”  
They laughed again, and the second one said, “Uh- my first name’s James but it comes from Buchanan,”  
The first one- Steve, damn it, Parker,-  said, “His middle name,”  
Parker snorted. “You were named after a president?”  
Bucky- James, said, “Yeah, and not even a relevant one,” and made Steve crack up  
“That it?” Steve asked.  
“Yeah, thanks.” She mumbled gratefully.  
“Get some sleep, kiddo. Or watch TV, remote’s right here. We’ll be across the hall, let us know if you need anything.” Bucky said, gripping Parker’s shoulder for a moment.  
She wanted to talk more, but she felt a soft bed underneath her and the exhaustion deep in her bones. The boys left, and shut the door until it was barely cracked open. She liked that she could see the small sliver of light, and they didn’t turn it off either when they went to their room.  
She pulled a cord on the ceiling fan so it spinned lazily, and turned the lamp off.  
For the first time in too long, she crawled under a comforter, buried herself in a pillow, and slept.


	2. Options

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gaining more traction than I expected! Thanks guys :)

Steve walked back towards the kitchen to clean up a little bit from dinner. Bucky followed to help him.

“I’ll put the clean dishes away if you put the dirty ones in the dishwasher.” Bucky offered.

Steve nodded, “Deal,”

They worked silently, sink turning on and off and dishes clanking together. Steve’s brows were furrowed.

“What’s wrong?” Bucky asked, “You’re worrying.”

“I just wonder what we got ourselves into,” He sighed.

Bucky shook his head. “Tomorrow, we’ll make some calls and see if there’s anyone she knows. Distant family or something. It’ll be fine, and I think you’re so incredible to help her out.”

“Are you okay with it?” Steve asked.

“She’s a good kid. She deserves better.”  
-

It was past 10 o’clock when Parker finally padded sleepily down the hall and sheepishly peeked into the living room. Bucky was reading a book while Steve was in the kitchen getting coffee. Bucky looked up at the sound of her footsteps.

“Mornin’, sunshine. How do you feel?”

She sat on the side of the couch opposite Bucky.

“Good. What time is it?” She said, voice thick with sleep.

“About ten fifteen.”

“Really?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I slept for twelve hours?”

“You needed it.” Bucky said. Steve poked his head out.

“Hey, you’re up!”

She smiled. “Morning.”

Steve’s heart swelled. “Morning. Want some coffee?”

Parker nodded. “Yes, please.” the words jumbled together, her manners habitual.

“Okay, c’mere you make it, I’m not sure how you take yours.”

She walked over to where he was setting a jar of sugar and a container of vanilla cream on the counter next to a mug of black coffee. She put a scoop of sugar in it and stirred, sheepishly pulling her mug off of the counter.

“Black?” Steve asked.

“Mm- hmm.”

“I don't know how you heathens do that!” He exclaimed.

Bucky chimed in from across the room, “Maybe Parker’s just tougher than you.”

“Oh she definitely is.” Steve said and smiled at her.

“Let’s not test that theory, though” She had an amused smile. She walked over to the couch again, waiting for Bucky’s encouraging nod before she sat down. She sat with her legs folded almost to her chest, cradling her mug.

“Oh, I washed your stuff,” he said, “If you wanna wear something that fits. It’s in the dryer now,” He said. She nodded and took another drink of coffee.  
-  
“So, um, I’ll get out of your hair now,” Parker said later, back in her own clothes.

“Well- I don’t wanna send you back out there,” Bucky said.

“Yeah, I mean, do you have anywhere to go?” Steve asked.

Parker looked down. “I mean, no, but.. There’s shelters.”

Steve shook his head. “Nonsense, isn’t there anyone I can call for you?”

Parker looked down. Nobody except Allie. And that was off the table.

“Listen,” Bucky began. “We won’t make you stay, but you don’t need to leave for our sake. There’s enough to go around.”  

“Isn’t there anyone you know that we could call for you?” Steve asked.

“Um, no. I mean, I’m too old for a foster home. I can’t get a job without an address or phone number, y’know?” She looked down at her hands. Bucky grabbed her shoulder.

“We’ll figure something out.

Bucky had work that day. Parker wasn’t really sure what to do with herself. She stayed in the guest room for a bit but eventually stopped being able to stay busy. She wandered into the living room where Steve was playing a video game on the couch and looked almost too interested in it. His brows were furrowed and the Xbox controller in his hands was making clacking noises because he was jerking the buttons probably more violently than strictly necessary.  
Steve paused the game and said, “Hey, sorry.” kind of sheepishly.

“Oh, you don’t have to stop. I honestly like watching people play games. I used to make my friend Patrick facetime me when he played so I could see the TV,” She chuckled.

“Oh,” Steve said, “Well, you can sit down if you want,” He started moving the pillows from the couch so she’d have room. She sat with her legs bent up against her chest, really certain that although she didn’t really know Steve, he wouldn’t give one rat’s ass that her feet were on the couch.  
-

Bucky’s phone buzzed in his pocket with the vibration that he’d customized so he’d know when Steve texted him. He wiped his hands on his jeans and pulled his phone out. 

 **Stevie:**  
**Look, I made a friend**  
_Attached: 1 image_

When he opened the photo it was a very quickly taken photo of Parker on the couch, looking down at her hands. 

 **Buck:**  
**She must’ve been bored if she decided to come see your ugly mug**

 **Stevie:**  
**If I’m so ugly then I’ll just tell that nurse Shannon from work to come over**

Bucky rolled his eyes. He hated Shannon. Every Christmas party or event at the hospital, she shamelessly hit on Steve right in front of him **.**

 **Buck:**  
**Shannon from work can fuck herself**

 **Stevie:**  
**While thinking about me**

 **Buck:**  
_Attached: 1 image_

Steve opened the picture. Bucky, with what was most likely motor oil on his face and hands, smiling sarcastically with his middle finger up. Steve may or may not have saved the photo.

 **Stevie:**  
**Love you, Buck <3**

 **Buck:**  
**Love you, asshole**  
Bucky smiled and put his phone away.  
-  
“So did you finish high school?” Steve asked over the sounds of gunfire in his game.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, I went to like, five different ones, total. But yeah I managed to get all my transcripts where they needed to be for my credits.” She did seem to really like just watching Steve play. Her eyes were glued to the screen and she wasn’t fidgeting very much. She could never get into playing them herself, she didn’t have the patience or focus especially when there was so much to pay attention to.

“What did you wanna do after? If you could,” He was really curious.

She chuckled nervously. “I honestly would love to go to nursing school,”

“No shit?” He said excitedly, “I’m a nurse!” He paused his game and she turned to face him more directly.

“Really? What kind?”

“I’m in the ER. What would you wanna work in?”

“ER? Jesus that must be an adventure. I think I’d wanna go into OB,” Parker said, excitedly bouncing her legs.  

“Oh, it’s great. I’ll tell you all about it sometime. OB’s less hectic but it’s awesome down there.”

“What does Bucky do? Does he work there too?”

Steve snorted. “I think he’d rather die. He’s a mechanic at this shop downtown.”

She nodded. “That’s cool. My brother used to work on cars a lot,” She said.

Oh. “Where’s he?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. He’s a few years older so he aged out. We meant to keep talking and he wanted to get custody of me, but that takes years. And legal fees. And I didn’t have a phone so when I moved homes I had no way to tell him.”

“Well what’s his name?” Just when Steve thought his heart couldn’t ache for her more.

“Joseph,” She mumbled.

He didn’t pry. They probably had the same last name.Steve was an only child, but he thought about how Bucky loved his baby sister. He took her to lunch every weekend. They were always texting each other. If Bucky had just gotten too old and had to leave her, they’d both be absolutely devastated. He pulled his phone back out.  
**Stevie:**  
**Parker has a big brother.**

Bucky’s phone buzzed again. His jaw dropped.

 **Buck:**  
**Why didn’t she go stay with him?**

Any brother with a shred of decency would’ve taken care of his baby sister through all that.

 **Stevie:**  
**They were separated. She doesn’t know where he is.**

Bucky sighed.

 **Buck:**  
**Poor thing..**  
-  
Bucky walked into the apartment after work that day and Steve was on the couch. Parker wasn’t in the room.

“Where is she?” He asked.

Steve said, “Shower,” and Bucky nodded.

“How was your day?” Steve asked

Bucky groaned. “I spent two hours digging out scraps of a belt that literally exploded in this guy’s car. Like, it was shredded and stuck everywhere. I had to tear it out with a pocket knife.” Bucky walked over to behind the couch (it was light gray and he’d be damned if he got oil and dirt all over it)

Steve turned around and stood on his knees on the couch so they were facing each other. Like this, Steve was a lot shorter than Bucky.

“How was your day, beautiful?” Bucky asked, touching Steve’s face because he had long since stopped caring if Bucky touched him even if his hands were dirty. He leaned his head to press his cheek into Bucky’s palm.

“Good. I got past that one part in Fallout. I started that book I got. Not very eventful.”

“You needed a not eventful day. You have two twelves in a row this week,” Ugh, Steve thought, don’t remind me. His work wasn’t a nine- to- five like Bucky’s was. He worked twelve hour shifts a week. Two of his three for this week were tomorrow and the day after. Then he had one day off until his third shift. Fantastic.

“I might die,” Steve said.

“You’ll be right in the ER, they’ll patch you up.”

Steve hummed and absently toyed with Bucky’s dirty hair. “Can we order Chinese tonight?”

Bucky smiled. “Is that even a question?”

Parker wandered out of the bathroom with wet hair and pajamas that he could only assume Steve gave her. She smiled at Bucky rather shyly with her mouth closed. He grinned anyway.

“Hey, kiddo. Getting hungry?”

She nodded. The sleeves of the sweatshirt Steve gave her went far beyond her fingertips, but the way she was tugging them down and putting her hands in the kangaroo pocket in the front made him think she enjoyed it.

“Chinese sound okay?” Steve offered.

“Oh, sure, absolutely.” She said.

Steve already knew Bucky’s order by heart, so Bucky went off to take a shower. He had this soap under the sink that was kind of gritty, but strong enough to get the oil and dirt off of him and out of his hair- don’t ask how it got there, he never fucking knew.

Steve quickly realized the small obstacle in his plan: Parker, quiet and modest as she was, was very shy about picking something to eat. She tried to say, _oh, whatever you guys get is fine with me_ and Steve had to explain that _really, it’s no trouble,_ and there honestly wouldn’t be enough leftover from just what they got.

Parker wasn’t shy, she was downright anxious about this. Steve wracked his brain. He didn’t see the huge deal. Like, he did, but it was okay. The second he heard the shower turn off he rushed to the bathroom to ask Bucky.

Bucky’d had his fair share of anxiety. And Steve was equipped to deal with the full on panic attacks he saw in the ER, and Bucky’s anxiety, but was at a loss for this. He knocked on the door.

Bucky said “One second!” but Steve didn’t want her to know they were talking about her.

Steve said, “It’s me,”

“That still doesn’t make me any less naked,” Bucky huffed but opened the door anyway. He had a towel around his waist.

“She’s too scared to ask for stuff. So I don’t know what to get for her because she won’t _tell_ me. And like, I don’t just wanna get something random, and-”

Bucky cut him off. “I’ll be out of here in five minutes. Let me do it, okay? You’re working yourself up. Okay? I got it," He put a clean hand on Steve's cheek. 

"Okay," He nodded and headed to his room so she didn’t think he was being weird. Okay, he _was_ being weird, but still. People didn't need to know about it. 

A few minutes later the bathroom door opened and shut and, he followed Bucky into the living room. Bucky picked up the menu as if he was deciding what he wanted and sat on the couch by Parker.

Steve hadn’t seen him vary his order in a good five years.

“Know what you want?” He asked conversationally.

She shrugged. “I don’t really care.”

Bucky didn’t skip a beat. “Well, it all depends if you like spicy stuff or not,”

She didn’t speak but wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Food that hurts freaks me out,”

Bucky snorted. “Alright. I think most of the not- spicy stuff is chicken.”

Bucky just kept going down some checklist in his head, narrowing down the options until he ended up _offering_ something to her that she actually wanted. That way, she could say, “Oh, yeah, sure. I like that,” and nod. Bucky smiled at Steve. When he wandered into the kitchen to get his phone and order the food, he mouthed _how the fuck_ at Bucky. Bucky winked.

Within an hour their food was unceremoniously laid out on the counter and they were all eating in the living room again. They had a kitchen table but seldom used it.  
-  
“So I’ve been thinking,” Steve said once they’d finished eating, “That it probably wouldn’t be that hard to track down this brother of yours. If you wanted,”

Her head snapped up. “How?”

“Well,” He explained, “we just search his name, see what we find. It can’t hurt.”

Parker nodded. Bucky interjected, “But we’ll need to know his full name.”

She took a deep breath and nodded. Anxiously rubbed her neck. “Oh. Um- alright. It’s Joseph Abbott,”

 _That was relatively painless_ , Steve thought.

“Do you really think you could find him?” She asked, almost bubbly.

Bucky said, “I don’t see why not. Is he in the city?”

“Last I heard, yeah,”

Bucky didn’t recognize it immediately, but as she and Steve discussed what they knew and needed to know, his head snapped up. He interrupted them.

“Joseph Abbott? Like. Tall, jacked, everyone calls him Mike but no one really knows why?”

She looked at him like he had three heads. “Well.. yeah. Wait, how do you know that?”

Bucky shook his head. “He owns an autobody shop like, ten miles away from here.”

“He- what?!” Her jaw was on the floor.

Bucky said, “Yeah! I remember it ‘cause it’s so crazy that he’s twenty- four and already has his own shop.”

She just shook her head. Steve looked dumbfounded.

“I- we could call the shop,” Bucky said.

This was insane, he was that close this whole time? And now Bucky was googling the number for the shop and she had no idea what to say. What do you even say? She agreed anyway. Joseph was so close, maybe she could live with him. Everything would change. And then Bucky was asking if she wanted to talk, or if he should and it was so much. She stuttered, “I- I don’t..” and so Bucky decided to talk. Steve was grinning and bouncing his leg excitedly.  
It had all happened so fast, and now Bucky had the phone to his ear.

The person who answered the phone sounded really young when he said, “Joe’s autobody,”

Bucky took a deep breath. “Hey, can I speak to the owner?”

“He’s busy, but I can help you or take a message,” Very boredly.

Bucky sighed frustratedly. “Tell him it’s about Parker,”

“Who?” The kid said.

“Kid, he’ll know. Tell him,” Bucky was trying not to be angry. The line was quiet until there was shuffling and then, “This is Joe,”

Bucky let out a breath. “Hey, Joe, I’m Bucky. I work at Universal Auto on Vernon-”

He cut Bucky off, “You said you knew my sister.”

Bucky, trying his damnedest to be polite, sighed before he said, “Yeah, I do. She’s actually been staying with my partner and I for a couple of days. She mentioned you and that it’d been a while. I figured we ought to get lunch tomorrow or something.”

“I- Jesus, what? Is she there? Can I talk to her?”

Bucky turned to Parker, who was anxiously staring at him, and held the phone out.

Parker took it with shaky hands. “Hey, Mikey,”

“Parker? My love, how are you?" She put the phone on speaker because she could tell they were trying to listen anyway.

“I’m, y’know, I’m okay. It’s been interesting.” She said.

“Last I heard you and Allie were staying with that guy she knew. What’re you doing staying with that guy and his ‘partner’?” The sarcasm was tangible and she cringed.

“Oh- I was for a while. Allie just had different things in mind than I did,”

Bucky and Steve looked at each other.

“How do you know these guys, Parker Marie? You know what people are like out there.”

Her smile was fading. “I’m, sort of staying here. It was raining and I didn’t have anywhere to stay so they let me stay here. Now I’m just here ‘til I figure something out,”

“How are you?” He asked, more seriously this time.

“I’m.. I’m doing alright. Really.”

“Good, baby,” He said fondly, “Alright, well, that guy said something about lunch tomorrow. You want to?” He asked

“Of course!”

“Alright, well, let’s talk about a place and all that, is that guy there?”

She said, “Yeah, yeah, he’s here, uh, his name is Bucky.”

“Yeah, whatever. Just put me on speaker then,” Joe said, so she paused as if she was actually doing so now and not minutes ago.

Bucky said, “Hey,” a few seconds later. They chatted about times and places that were somewhat in the middle, and chose some little diner that he said he liked.

“Alright, man, see you then.” Joe said.

“See you tomorrow, Mikes,” Parker said happily.

“See you, love.” He said and hung up. Parker didn’t hide her excitement well and handed Bucky his phone back.

Steve smiled. “Wow. That was easy. Are you excited?”

“I am!” She said. “Sorry about what he said, he’s just protective,”

“Do you think you could stay with him?” Bucky asked.

“I mean, yeah! I was going to before. I don’t believe it.” She looked at them both nervously and said, “Can I hug you?”

They smiled in unison. Bucky stood and pulled her into a tight hug. She couldn’t remember the last time she was hugged. Or touched at all, really. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He let her go and Steve hugged her. She rested her head against his chest and he moved one hand from her upper back to her hair. She smiled.  
-  
Later, when Steve closed their bedroom door, the first thing he said was, “I don’t like him.”

“I know, Stevie, but he’s just protective. If I found out Becca lived with some random dudes I’d, be weird about it too,” Bucky reasoned.

“You didn’t leave Becca without any number to reach you at or _any_ idea where you were going. You _talk_ to Becca,” Steve said.

“I know, I know. He’s her brother, hear him out. I’ll be there tomorrow. Everything will be okay. He’s got a soft spot for her. And if he does decide to take her in- which, by the way, she seems confident about,- then we bring her here for one more night, let her think it over. It’ll be okay.”

Steve sighed. “Okay. But he’s still kind of an ass.”

-  
Parker was elated. She laid in bed and hugged the comforter, almost too excited to sleep.


	3. Evolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my lovely sister for being my beta. You can find her at www.netflixallday-netflixallnight.tumblr.com

 

Parker spent the entire next morning with her legs bouncing and her smile on a hair trigger. She woke up at nine and had two hours to kill before lunch. She didn’t eat breakfast, just sipping on coffee while Bucky showered. She’d go next. 

Bucky spent far too much time thinking about how to dress. The location itself didn’t call for anything better than decent, but the context made him want to wear a damn suit. How do you dress in a way that says  _ hi, I’ve been taking care of your sister for like a week now and am analyzing every move you make because I don’t trust you but we both need you to like me.  _

He called Steve. 

“Hello?” He almost never called Steve at work. 

“Hey, Steve, I have a dilemma.” 

“What’s that?” 

“I don’t know what to wear.” 

Steve laughed. “You’re distracting me from saving lives so I can help you pick an outfit?” 

“ _ Are  _ you saving lives?” Bucky asked. The answer was no, Steve would’ve ignored the call.

“No we have two guys drug seeking, and one bee sting.” 

“You can save  _ my  _ life right now,” Bucky said. “Wait, drug seeking?” 

“They come in saying they have terrible headaches or stomach pain so that we’ll give them narcotic pain medication. It doesn’t work.”

“That’s fucked up. I digress. Help me.” 

“Where are you meeting the brother?” 

“A diner not far from here.” 

“It’s a diner, wear whatever you want.” Steve said. 

“That’s the  _ problem.  _ I almost want to wear a suit.” 

“Do not wear a suit.” 

“I know. Jeans? A hoodie?” 

“Yes, James. Jesus. Just wear jeans.” Steve laughed. 

“You think that’ll be enough?”

“He’s coming from work? He’s gonna be in a ratty work shirt and jeans just like you. Whatever you wear will be nice enough.” 

“Okay, true,” He allowed, “I’ll do that.” 

“Are you actually only stressed over clothes?” 

Bucky sighed. “I just feel like it’ll break her heart if it doesn’t go well.” 

“If it doesn’t go well then we figure something out. It’s okay, she’s a great kid.” 

“You’re right.” 

“I know.” 

“Don’t push it,” Bucky warned. 

Steve laughed. “Take a deep breath. It’ll be okay. I should go.”

“Thank you,” Bucky sighed.

“I love you,” Steve said.

“I love you, Steve.” 

 

He put jeans on. Settled on a Nirvana t-shirt. Checked the weather and grabbed a sweatshirt. He walked out to the living room where Parker was on the couch. 

Parker only had the one outfit, and Bucky dimly thought that this brother of hers better plan on helping her get some damn clothes. And a haircut, she tugged at her hair a lot. 

Of course, she wasn’t  _ Bucky’s  _ kid sister. Bucky still didn’t know how he felt about the brother. 

“Ready to go?” Bucky asked. 

“As I’ll ever be.”

The drive there was a short one. Parker tried to remember the last time she was in a car. It had to have been almost a year. She repeatedly flattened her hair in the passenger side mirror and pulled her hoodie sleeves over her hands. Bucky considered telling her to relax, but kept his mouth shut, because some things are easier said than done. 

The diner really  _ was  _ small, but not at all run down or old - looking. Like maybe some couple in their fifties opened it thirty years ago and still run it. He thought it was nice. They walked in four minutes early, according to the watch on Bucky’s wrist that Parker wouldn’t stop glancing at and reading upside down. 

Bucky told the hostess that they were expecting one more, so she led them to a booth next to a window and they ordered drinks. Parker anxiously watched the minutes tick by on Bucky’s wrist. They sat next to each other. 

Eight minutes past eleven, when Parker’s hands were starting to shake and she was glancing around the room every few seconds, the door opened with a little jingle and her head shot up. Joe looked around the room and Parker raised her hand to wave at him. He smiled and made his way over, and Bucky stood up to let her out so they could hug. She stood on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck and he hugged her around her waist. 

They separated and he put his hands on her shoulders. “Where’s your hair?” He laughed

He let Parker go, so she took a step back and Bucky introduced himself. 

“Hey man, I’m Bucky,” He said, holding his hand out. Joe shook it and just said, “Joseph,” 

They got back into the booth and Joe sat across from Parker, who was bouncing a leg under the table. It occurred to Parker that Bucky had said that Joe was  _ jacked  _ when Bucky easily had three inches and forty pounds on him. 

Given, her brother  _ was  _ a lot more muscular than she remembered him being, but still. 

A waitress came by to ask Joe if he wanted anything to drink. He said, “Coffee and water,” without glancing at her. Parker was looking at Joe and smiling. 

“So,” she said excitedly, “how are you?” 

He chuckled. “Not bad, not bad at all. I opened a shop, got my own place,” He smiled. 

“That’s great! Where are you staying?” 

“I’m in an apartment complex not far east from the shop, there with my, uh, girlfriend,” He flushed. 

“Girlfriend?” Parker grinned and raised her eyebrows. 

“Uh, yeah. It’s- y’know, she moved in a couple of months ago. Nothing huge,” 

“I think it’s exciting!” She said. 

He looked at Bucky. “What about you? How long have you been living with your-” He waved his hand vaguely. 

Bucky raised his eyebrows but held back his sigh. “My boyfriend and I moved in together when he out of college almost seven years ago.” 

“Jesus. Seven years? Yikes,” Joe said. Bucky blinked slowly and pursed his lips.

Parker looked up at him. “ Whoa, you’re, like, thirty,” 

He laughed. “I am not! I’m twenty- nine. Don’t say the ‘t’ word.” 

“So what’s Steve, twenty- eight?” She asked. 

Joe griped, “You don’t even know how old they are, that’s comforting,” 

Parker bit her lip and looked down. 

A few moments of awkward silence followed before a waitress came over and they ordered their  food. They chatted idly about safe topics. 

“So, uh, where’s the ‘Mike’ come from?” Bucky asked, just to make some conversation. 

He said “My middle name,” At the same time as Parker. 

They shared what colleges they went to, Joseph even told a story about when Parker was little and he convinced her it wasn’t possible to breathe through your nose. The food showed up just in time for Joe to make her feel sick to her stomach. Parker had begun a story of her own with, “Well, Mikey here-”

Her brother interrupted her angrily. “It’s Mike, or it’s Joe. I don’t know why you’ve always had fifty names for everybody.” 

Bucky’s jaw dropped. Parker’s eyes got really wide. “Oh- I’m. I’m sorry. You’re right. I guess we aren’t kids.” 

Bucky half expected him to apologize for snapping, but he just nodded and took a bite of his burger. Parker picked one of her fries up and took a tentative bite so she had an excuse not to talk. Bucky set his jaw.

“Why’d you even want to come here?” Joseph asked.

Parker started saying, “It’d just been a while. I don’t have many options these days. Bucky said he knew of you, so we called. I thought- I mean, we used to plan on living together. I thought maybe-” She looked down. Under the table, Bucky grabbed her hand. 

Her brother sighed. “Listen. It was good to see you, and you’ve grown up so much. But, it’s been years. We don’t really know each other. I have a girlfriend, I have a shop to run. It’s just not feasible. You understand.” He looked at Bucky. 

Parker was one hundred percent sure that if she spoke right now, she’d cry. She swallowed hard. Bucky held Joe’s eyes. 

“I understand?” He was bewildered.

“I mean, you got family? Eventually you have your own life, it stops being reasonable to expect to see them all the time.” 

Bucky spoke low and carefully. “I see my little sister every weekend. You’re free to walk out on twelve- year- old girls who have nobody else, if you want to. But I don’t relate.”

“ _ Don’t  _ talk about things you don’t understand. You thought I’d come here and be just jumping for joy? Take in an eighteen- year- old kid just like that? Ask her for forgiveness or some shit?” Joseph demanded. Parker didn’t notice how tightly she was squeezing Bucky’s hand. 

Bucky scoffed. “I think you should’ve been begging on your knees, but obviously that’s just me.”

Joe looked at Parker. “Why didn’t you live with Allie? We talked on the phone those times and you said that it was certain.  _ What  _ happened?” 

She looked at him. 

“Parker, you understand, don’t you?” 

She shook her head. “Bucky, can we please leave, now?” She said stiffly. 

Bucky dropped her hand so they could stand up. “Yeah, c’mon. Let’s go.” 

He held her jacket open so she could slip her arms inside and close it. Her brother stood up too. 

“I’m sorry it has to be this way. It’s just different now.”

Bucky said, “Is it?” and walked Parker to the counter, paid the bill, and walked out before he could convince himself otherwise. Joseph was watching them through the window. 

They rounded a corner out of his sight before Bucky wordlessly pulled her into his arms right when she began to cry. 

“I know. I’m sorry. He’s a selfish prick.” He said, resting his chin on top of her head. 

“I don’t know what I’m gonna do.” Her voice was thick with tears. 

Bucky sighed. “We’ll figure something out. Let’s get back.” 

-

Bucky sent Steve a very long message once he got home about how lunch had gone. When he got home from work, Parker was reading one of his books on the couch with her feet in Bucky’s lap. He was playing video games on the TV. They both looked up when he opened the door. 

Steve gave her a look. “Hey, kiddo,” 

She just barely smiled. “Hi,” 

He held his arms out. She got up and let herself be held. 

“It’ll be okay.” 

-

Bucky took his little sister, Rebecca, to lunch the following day. Steve had to work again, and although he was loathe to leave her alone, Parker insisted she was fine. Bucky made her pinky swear she’d be there when he got back. 

“Pinky swears are basically sacred,” Bucky warned. 

“I’d hate to break that,” She smiled. “It’s okay, really. I have my- Steve’s- book, TV, anything. Go have fun. ‘S not like I could go far.” 

So Bucky picked Becca up even though she insisted she could drive herself. She was quite a bit younger than him, having just turned nineteen. She was constantly saying to him,  _ Buck, I’m not  _ that  _ young.  _ And Bucky would say,  _ You’re like, twelve,  _ and she’d say,  _ fuck you, Barnes.  _

He decided that he won the argument every time. 

**Bucky-**

**Be there in five**

 

**Becca-**

**Copy that.**

 

When he pulled up to the house, Becca jogged out and got in the passenger side. 

“Wow, Barnes, you come here often?” She asked. 

“ Nah, there’s this irritating brat that lives there.” 

“Fuck off,” She said, but she was grinning. “Where we going?” 

“I dunno. Hungry?” He asked. 

“Always,”

“I know. You’re insatiable. I’m gonna go broke,” He joked, turning out towards a restaurant she insisted was  _ the best _ . Of course, she probably had at least fifty favorite restaurants. 

They walked in and sat down, chatting about school for her, how her first year of college was going, he asked how their mom was.

When they’d ordered drinks, they started looking through the menu. Idly, as if it was just a normal question, Becca said, “Did you propose to Steve yet?” 

Bucky choked on his Coke. “ _ What?”  _

She laughed while he coughed. “You guys have been together for- fuckin- ever.”

“-Eight years.”

“ _ And  _ he’s basically part of the family anyway. C’mon, why not get married?” 

“Weddings are expensive.” 

“Living in an apartment in Brooklyn is expensive.” She said. 

“Exactly!” He argued. 

“You’re impossible. I bet he’d love to get married.” 

“We will, we will. Just not now. I mean, am I just gonna get home and be all, ‘Hey Stevie, my baby sister wants us to get married. Let’s head to the courthouse?’”

She snorted. “Mom would never let you have a courthouse wedding.”  

He shrugged. “I know, I know. Anyway, enough about my hypothetical wedding. What’s new?” 

She sighed. “Um, I dunno. Not much this week, I guess. I have finals next month so I’ve been studying my ass off. You?” 

“Good. Study. I didn’t my freshman year and fucked me up hard. And, well. Steve and I have someone staying with us right now.” 

“..Staying with you, as in?” 

“As in we met her one night on the street because it was rainy and Steve wanted to help her out. But she literally has, like, nobody. And we can’t put her back out there, y’know? Her brother like, doesn’t  _ want  _ her. Which pisses me off. Like, okay, your little sister needs help and you’re just like, ‘ohh, I can’t, I have a job and a girlfriend.’ Fuck you. And he was  _ totally  _ homophobic. He referred to Steve as my ‘partner,’” Bucky used air quotes, “And I didn’t say anything because I didn’t wanna fuck it up for her. But still he left her alone. I don’t know what to do.”

Becca’s jaw had dropped somewhere in his little rant. “Whoa,” 

Bucky nodded. 

“Well- you obviously care about her. How old is she?” 

“About your age.” 

She took a deep breath. “I mean, if she’s my age, she’s probably pretty self sufficient. Do you want her to stay with you?” 

“I really care about her. The way I care about you, I guess. I mean, you’re my sister, so of course I love you. It’s pretty similar, I guess. I couldn’t live with myself if she went anywhere that wasn’t safe.” 

“Is that a yes?” 

He shrugged. “I don’t want her to leave just yet. I like having her around.”

She nodded. “Does Steve?” 

“Good God, Steve couldn’t get her into the apartment and fed fast enough.” He chuckled. 

“So it’s not that hard, is it? If she wants to stay there, and you don’t want her to leave, and it’s feasible for you to have her there- which it is, I think- then have her stay. It sounds like you guys care for her.” She said simply. 

“You think?” 

“If I thought it was stupid I’d tell you right to your face. Buck, you’re a grownup. Maybe this is good for you guys. It’s awesome, what you’re doing for her. What’s her name?” 

Bucky smiled fondly. “Parker,” 

Becca said, “I’d love to meet her sometime. You’re good at taking care of people. You always took good care of me.” 

He said, “Thanks, Beck,” and took a deep breath. The rest of the meal was spent eating and chatting, kicking each other’s shins under the table, and shushing each other’s loud laughter. 

When Bucky drove her home, he got out of the car to give her a proper hug. 

“Bucky?” Becca said. 

“Hm?” 

“Just do what feels right.” 

Before he backed out of the driveway, he texted Steve. 

 

**Buck-**

**What if we just let her move in? Permanently?**

 

Only a few minutes later, Bucky’s phone buzzed. If he weren’t driving, he would’ve pulled his phone out to see a message from Steve. 

 

**Stevie-**

**I love you so much. We’ll talk to her tonight.**

 

Bucky got back home to Parker napping on the couch with a blanket around her legs and a book in her lap. He put the book on the coffee table. She stirred just a little and settled again. 

She woke up a few hours before Steve got home. She came and found Bucky in his room when she woke up, and asked him how lunch with Becca went. 

“It went great,” He smiled. “How are you feeling?” 

“I’m alright. Definitely been worse,” She smiled. 

They watched TV together until Steve got home. He came to find them sitting up on the bed, and sat across from them both, like a triangle. 

“Let’s talk,” He said. Parker looked up to him with nerves concealed as curiosity. 

“Do you like staying here?” Steve asked. 

She nodded. “Of course.” 

Bucky said, “We’ve been thinking about our options, as well as what  _ we  _ want.” 

She felt like she was balancing on the point of a knife. This was gonna go really good or really bad. “Okay..” 

“We were wondering how you’d feel about making this a more permanent arrangement.” Steve smiled. Her jaw dropped but became a grin. 

“You want me to- you’d let me stay?” 

“We really don’t want anything else,” Bucky said, “If that’s what you want.” 

“I don’t want to do anything else, either,” She said, with a grateful smile. 

Steve smiled at Bucky. Bucky smiled back. They both smiled at her. 

-

Steve and Bucky went into their room so they could hug each other and kiss and worry a little bit. They made a checklist. 

At the top of the checklist:  _ Clothes, shoes, haircut.  _

And that was today’s agenda. Steve was off work today, so he was going to take her out. 

“You really don’t have to do that,” She insisted.

“You have one outfit. That won’t do. C’mon, it’ll be fun.” 

So she went.  They didn’t go anywhere high- end, but she still felt bad about it anyway. Steve kept saying it was no big deal, and she knew logically that she needed new clothes. Steve was looking for things for himself too. The store was one of those ones that had endless racks of clothes just organized by size. It wasn’t a secondhand store- although she had suggested that- but it was set up sort of like one. She’d only gotten actually new clothes a handful of times. 

She wandered racks of shirts. The one she had on now was a medium, she went with that. There were weird ones with words on them, like,  _ I want to be a mermaid,  _ or,  _ But first, coffee.  _ She never knew it was possible to find a shirt annoying. 

The ones she liked had pictures on them. Like, one had a sort of cubist elephant. She mostly liked the ones with music logos on them. She found a rack that was technically men’s stuff, but it had a whole ton of bands. Steve found her there and laughed. He was holding a few things, too. 

“Find anything?” 

She smiled and showed him. She was holding four shirts. 

“It’s guys, so you’ll want to get them in smaller sizes,” He pointed out, “But you can grab a couple more if you want.” 

She got one more, just to be on the safe side of ‘a couple,’ and followed him to other parts of the store. Like pants. She found a couple pairs of jeans, but she went easy on those because they’re more expensive than shirts. 

Being eighteen and needing somebody else to spend money on her like this wasn’t a good feeling, but she just kept thinking that she was going to get a job once she could, and there wasn’t any helping what had happened in the past. 

So she got the goddamn pants and looked down while they checked out. It helped that Steve was grinning the whole time. He carried everything to the car. 

“Are we going back now?” 

“There’s a couple more places I want to go,” He said. She groaned. He mocked her. 

“You’re spending money,” She said. 

“What the hell else am I gonna do with it?” 

“I dunno, pay your rent?” 

“I already did that. Besides, those things don’t even count as shoes anymore.” He said pointedly.

He was right, the ratty converse that were once black and white were now a solid brown, more holes than shoes, and looked like they’d disintegrate at a strong breeze. She said okay. They walked in together and since Steve didn’t need anything, he followed her where she wandered. She just wanted something similar to what she had then. There were low top Vans that caught her eye. Steve nodded encouragingly so she looked at all the different colors and tried some on, a size bigger than her current shoes. They felt better- like they were actually doing something instead of just being on. She loved it. So they got them and walked back out.  

She said, “What now?” 

“You look like you could use a haircut,” He offered. 

Her brows furrowed. “I mean, I’d love to, but, we can do that at your place, can’t we?”

“You don’t wanna get it done?” 

“I mean, it doesn’t seem necessary. It’s easy to trim. If you have clippers and everything.” She hadn’t gotten a haircut professionally since she chopped all her hair off at fifteen. After that it was just trims she could do herself, or with a friend.

“I mean, alright. Bucky does my hair, y’know.” He smiled fondly. 

“I used to do the top myself with scissors, and my friend Allie would do the sides.” 

“You and Allie were pretty close, then.” He said. 

She nodded. 

“What happened?” 

She looked down at the bags in her hands and felt exposed. “Can we talk when Bucky’s home? I don’t want to tell the story twice.” 


	4. Worlds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, my beta for this story is on tumblr @netflixallday-netflixallnight ! check her out friends.  
> Feedback is always welcome!

-

They sat on the couch to listen. She sat on the chair to talk. 

“Allie and I met in a foster home where I spent about two years. She was already there when I got there. They couldn’t find me a family- it was a group home. Once you’re in a group home you know you’re not getting adopted. But I was sixteen, our birthdays were three days apart. We shared a room, so we basically were either going to become friends, or start hating each other with a passion. We became friends. 

We were inseparable. But she was judgemental. It seemed she hated everybody except me, which was almost a nice feeling. So I started to stop really liking people who were different from her or me. Anyway, side note, foster siblings can’t date each other, they just absolutely can’t. One or both of us would’ve been moved, and  labeled sexually volatile. But we were infatuated with each other. I mean, for sixteen- year- olds, we were doing surprisingly well. Again, we shared a room. How hard is it to sneak into one another’s beds? Not like that, of course. I mean- well, never mind that part.” 

For their parts, Steve and Bucky both looked genuinely interested, even though they knew how the story would end. 

“So, we decided we were going to run away someday. Once we aged out, we’d be expected to either go on our own or go with the assisted living program they have, where they help you get a job and an apartment. But there’s  _ rules  _ for AL that we wanted to bypass. No roommates, mandatory therapy, curfew, you name it. So we thought, once we got old enough that we couldn’t live together in that house, we’d just run away to the city. We started saving every penny we got. She knew someone who lived in an apartment in Manhattan that said we could live there when we aged out. So we did. The day we were both eighteen, we packed bags, and when it was dark, we got on a train and didn’t look back. I really think I loved her.” 

This is where her voice started to shake. She picked at her nails. 

“So we went there. We got a cab and got to his apartment, without phones and only a couple thousand dollars to keep us alive until we got jobs. We were gonna go to college together, get an apartment. Hell, I wanted a cat,” She chuckled emptily.

“But- the friend of hers, he drank a lot. We did too, went to all the parties he knew of, started smoking weed. I didn’t do much more than that but Allie- she did it all. I started staying sober at parties just to follow her around and make sure she was safe. She’d do whatever you put in front of her if I let her. Coke, molly, xanax, speed. I’d make her leave the parties when the  _ really  _ bad people got there. The guys who made you know never to put down your drink, because you don’t know what they could slip you. They’d bring heroin, amphetamines, anything. And I’d drag her away, to keep her safe, y’know?

“But it pissed her off. She’d be all,  _ c’mon, you’re no fun,  _ but that turned into, ‘Parker you’re such a  _ bitch,’ _ other things that aren’t worth repeating. And I did it anyway. One time, outside some huge house party, she slapped me.”

She couldn’t really hear herself talking anymore, getting lost in the story. She hardly noticed that she reached up to touch her right cheek. She remembered that her lip swelled up a few minutes later. She didn’t think it was worth mentioning the way she cried.

“I got us a cab home. The next day, she came home with roses. She kissed my swollen lip and said she’d stop using. Which lasted all of a week. One week. Before she went to another party and I went to stay sober and follow her around. The same thing happened, except this time she yelled a lot after, and said to get out of her sight. I got a cab back by the apartment but didn’t have it in me to sleep there that night. The things she said-” Parker cleared the lump out of her throat. Steve had started holding Bucky’s hand at some point. 

“So- uh, I stayed with a friend that night, someone I met through her. I didn’t say what happened. Anyway- I came home the next day and I thought she’d, like,  _ apologize.  _ I don’t know if she forgot what happened or what. She didn’t say anything. Eventually the next party came along, she went, I went, I tried to bring her home. She was even less happy about it that time. Same thing happened, except she didn’t stop at hitting me once. She ended up shoving me over and I was so scared of her I just ran. Got a cab to the apartment, left a note. I packed a bag and all my money and went further into the city.

“I ended up meeting some people who knew their way around. I tried to go to shelters at first but those are crowded and dirty and never have open beds anyway. I figured out how to get even miniscule amounts of money and what places I could steal from. Found a nice alleyway during the nights. Never saw her again. Then I got rescued.” 

Steve and Bucky kept looking at her, just in case she wasn’ t done. 

“ _ La fin,”  _ She said in an ingenuine light tone. 

“Wow, kiddo,” Bucky breathed.

“You don’t have to say anything. I mean, you asked so I told.” She gave them an out. 

Steve tried to clear the lump out of his throat. He grabbed her hand, squeezed it, and excused himself to his room. He took shaky breaths and tried not to cry just yet. He looked at her and she was just a little kid to him, his poor baby. He was in deep. 

-

“Is he okay?” 

Bucky nodded. “He needs a minute, ‘s all. Sometimes when he gets intense feelings he tells me it feels like they’re trying to crawl up his throat and out of his mouth. He’ll be back.”

“Alright,” She only said. 

“Thanks for telling us, love.” Bucky said, putting a loving hand on her knee. She nodded. 

They sat in silence. Eventually, Steve eventually came out of his room. They sat and watched a movie, stayed together all that day. Somehow they ended up all squeezed onto the couch, Parker between Steve and Bucky. She was leaned into Steve’s side with his arm around her and her knees pulled up to her chest. Bucky leaned against her periodically, mostly to remind her he was there. 

She mumbled something under her breath, almost without realizing it.

“What’s that?” Steve asked.

“What? Oh, sorry I was thinking out loud.” 

“I’m curious now,” Bucky whined.

“It was really nothing. It was just, my brother used to hate when I touched him. So I was thinking, like, this is nice.”

Steve, without thinking, said, “Having family that’ll lay with you?” 

His stomach dropped , he said the word  _ family,  _ and he thought, that’s too soon and it’ll freak her out and he didn’t mean to insinuate that he could  _ replace  _ her brother but-

She didn’t hesitate before saying, “Something like that,” softly before putting her head back down on Steve’s shoulder and shifting a little to get comfortable. 

She stayed secretive about how her heart fluttered. She didn’t notice when Steve and Bucky met eyes to smile. 

-

“Are you sure you can do this?” Parker asked for the millionth time as she sat down on the metal folding chair they’d pulled into the bathroom. 

Bucky said, “Yes, I’m sure, I do Steve’s all the time,” as he placed a bath towel around her shoulders. 

She grumbled, “Looks like it’s been a decade since you decided to use those skills on yourself.” Sarcastically. 

Steve, from where he stood in the doorway, covered his mouth with his hand while he laughed loudly enough to fill the apartment.

Bucky scoffed and taunted, “Oh, well, lotta talk from someone who expects me to be nice to their hair. And can it, Rogers.” 

“Y’know what, just go for it,” She gestured vaguely, “Just fuck me up.” 

“Gladly,” 

Bucky, for all the shit he talked, actually did a very careful and precise job. He put a guard on the clippers and tested a small patch of hair to see if it looked the length she vaguely described. He thought it was fine, so he clipped the longer top of her hair up and out of the way -after spending minutes carefully sectioning it off with a comb- and got going. He bent her ears down when he got near them and tried not to press too hard or go too quickly. It didn’t actually take that long. 

The hair on top of her head went almost to her chin, so he let it down, brushed it towards the front and then to the right where she wore it and trimmed it back up to her cheekbones, trimming the edges so it falls into a triangle. He did this facing the mirror, but her eyes were closed anyway. 

The whole time, he taunted her, “I actually don’t have a guard on here. I’m gonna make you bald.”

“I’m cutting your hair so that when it falls naturally it looks like a third grader did it.”

“I’m gonna shave my name into your head.”

And she’d throw back, “Yeah, keep talking shit, Barnes. You’ll wake up with no eyebrows.” 

Steve watched every exchange and his heart felt full. He leaned against the doorframe and smiled. 

Parker took several deep breaths. Bucky’s careful hands and affection was soothing, and touching her hair always made her go straight to sleep. She didn’t doze off, but she was as relaxed as she could be. 

Bucky brushed hair off of her neck. She’d need to shower to get it all off, but it’d be less itchy until she did. Bucky pulled the towel off of her and she asked if she could look now. 

“Whenever you’re ready,” Bucky said. 

She opened her eyes. Her jaw dropped, and her hands flew to her head, feeling the short, soft hairs and running her fingers through the longer top. 

“It looks great, Bucky. Wow. Thank you.” She grinned. 

“You like it?” Warmth spread through Bucky’s chest. 

She nodded. “I look like myself, if that makes any sense.” 

Steve and Bucky knew what she meant. She really did. Parker was not the scraggly, dirt covered girl they met in alley. This was her. 

She showered the hair off of her shoulders and back and played with it a little more. She had pajamas now, technically, but she grabbed one of Steve’s shirts to wear, anyway. She liked it. She walked out and sat on the couch next to Bucky. Steve was on the floor surrounded by textbooks and a binder, doing homework. Bucky brushed Parker’s hair out of her face for a moment and gave her a closed- lipped smile. 


End file.
